Dashboards are graphical displays that are generated by a computer to collect, organize and present information for the user in a useful manner. Similar to automotive dashboards, computerized dashboards typically provide graphical or other reports representing different types of information in an easy-to-read format. In the case of a database system used for tracking sales data, for example, dashboard displays can present graphical or other information about real time sales, hourly/daily/weekly/monthly/yearly sales figures, and/or other useful information as desired within a shared screen or other display. Other dashboards could be formulated to report web site traffic, manufacturing data, order or shipping details, and/or virtually any other data that can be measured or otherwise quantified. Dashboards are commonly used to present real-time or other data across a wide array of different applications and settings.
Modern software development is evolving away from the client-server model toward “cloud”-based processing systems that provide access to data and services via the Internet or other networks. In contrast to prior systems that hosted networked applications on dedicated server hardware, the cloud computing model allows applications to be provided over the network “as a service” supplied by an infrastructure provider. The infrastructure provider typically abstracts the underlying hardware and other resources used to deliver a customer-developed application so that the customer no longer needs to operate and support dedicated server hardware.
More recently, multi-tenant cloud-based architectures have been developed to improve collaboration, integration and community-based improvement between customer tenants without sacrificing data security. Generally speaking, multi-tenancy refers to a system wherein a single hardware and software platform simultaneously supports multiple user groups from a common data store. The Force.com service available from salesforce.com of San Francisco, Calif., for example, provides an application-centric approach that abstracts the server hardware altogether and allows multiple tenants to simultaneously yet securely implement a wide variety of applications.
Although multi-tenant and other cloud computing platforms can provide substantial benefits, challenges can arise in designing, building and operating such systems. The need to flexibly represent the many different types of data tracked by different tenants, for example, can present challenges in designing dashboard displays. In particular, it can be a substantial technical challenge to support creation of custom dashboard displays, particularly in collaborative environments where multiple users desire to make simultaneous changes to graphical or other dashboard elements.